Downtime
by Key and Lock
Summary: With the main team of X men out on a mission, Kain, James, Lucy, Gene, and Nathan have some downtime. The only question is what should they do with it? Stop some thieves of course. That is if they can agree on a team leader. Part of the GINX story.


Downtime

Disclaimer: I do not own X men Evolution, the GINX universe, or most of the characters. I do own Gene, however.

When the others had left to go on their mission they told Nathan, James, Kain, Gene, and Lucy that they could have the day off. They didn't expect them to hate it this much.

"Man this is boring!" Nathan complained.

"We know," Lucy said looking from her game. "You keep saying that,"

"Well, it's not fair! Why do the others get to go off on some mission, while we have to stay here?" Nathan asked. "It's so…"

"Do not finish that sentence," Kain said frostily.

"Oh, like you're having fun?" Nathan asked as he looked away from the T.V. that he had been staring at. Kain and Gene had somehow been dragged into playing a board game with Lucy, and while they didn't mind, you could tell that they wished they could be doing something more exciting.

"What do you think we should do?" Gene asked. "It's not like we can go after them, and even if we could we don't have the experience to go on an actual mission. That's why we got left behind,"

"Yeah, but, think about it. They left behind some of the best team members. James, you can bench press a tank when you're a guy, and when you're a girl nobody can touch you. Kain, you can fly, make tornadoes, and cause a hurricane. Gene you're practically impossible to kill and you can go places no one else can. And as for me, well, who doesn't want someone who can make fireballs on their team?"

"Hey, what about me?" Lucy asked.

"Oh, yeah can make people scared or whatever," Nathan said dismissively ignoring Lucy's glare.

"Don't we already have someone else who can control fire?" James asked.

"Oh yeah, I, uh, forgot about Blaise," Nathan said.

"Oh really?" Lucy asked. "Because you _obviously_ don't like her," she said grinning.

"W-what, I do like her. N-not like that, but," Nathan stammered.

"Uh Nathan, Lucy is an Empath. She can tell how you feel," Gene said.

"Yep, but at least you do a better job at hiding it. Unlike Fallon," Lucy said.

Kain had remained silent for a while, but he suddenly moved and took the remote from Nathan, despite his protests.

"Hey! I was using that!" Nathan said.

Kain didn't say anything. He merely turned up the volume on the T.V. The others now turned to see what was happening and saw that the news was on. However, this was a special report. An armored car had been hijacked and the driver was being held hostage.

The police were pursuing the car, but were not having any luck.

"Well," Kain said. "You wanted something to do,"

It didn't take them long to get ready. They hadn't received their uniforms yet, so they took the old training uniforms and some ski masks and went to the garage.

"Hey Gene, where's your uniform. Aren't you coming?" James asked.

"Yes, but, well, um," Gene seemed too embarrassed to talk. "The uniforms, they don't really… move with me," he managed to say.

"What do you mean, they don't 'move with you'" James asked.

"He needs a special uniform that they stay on him when he changes his body's shape. These uniforms can't do that," Kain explained. "But, I wouldn't worry. I doubt anyone will recognize him anyway,"

Nathan began to honk the horn at the three. "Hurry up will ya. We've got criminals to stop!"

"Why are you driving?" Kain asked as stood next to the car.

"Well, I figured that as the leader, I should be the one driving.

"Who said you're the leader?" Kain asked.

"Uh hello, I'm the best fighter here. I mean you can control wind, but I don't think that will do much against an armored car," Nathan said.

"Well, I don't know about you but, Kain was in a fight with another mutant once and he won. Besides he's had more training than you," Lucy said.

"Let's just go, we can vote on whose leader while we're driving," Kain said.

"Fine," Nathan sighed as they drove off.

"Okay so who votes for me?" Nathan asked. He held up his hand for a second before he grabbed hold of the steering wheel again. James shrugged and also held up his hand.

"Okay, who votes for Kain?" Nathan asked. Kain and Gene held up their hands.

"Okay, then that's two for me and two for Kain. We have a tie," Nathan said.

"Wait a second," James said. "There are five of us. There can't be a tie,"

Gene looked over at Lucy. "You didn't vote, did you?"

"Oh I did. I just voted for myself," Lucy said grinning.

"What?" Okay fine Lucy, since you only got one vote you can't be elected. So let's try this again," Nathan said.

They re-voted but the result was the same. Two for Nathan and two for Kain, once again Lucy did not vote. "Lucy you have to voter for someone!" Nathan said as he started to get a headache.

"I did. I voted for Gene," she said.

"Just pick me or Kain," Nathan said.

"Okay, I pick Kain," she said grinning again.

"You did tell her to pick between you two," James said.

"Oh, shut up," Nathan grumbled.

After they drove for a little while they caught up with the stolen car and the police. They put their masks on and pulled up next to the armored car.

"James, change into your female form and take the wheel," Kain said.

"Huh? Why?" James asked confused.

"Because Nathan and I are going to get the hostage out of there and with your female form your reaction time will be better so you'll be less likely to get hit by the car," Kain explained.

"Alright," James said as he changed into a she.

Nathan moved aside to let James take the wheel and sat next to Kain. "So how am I supposed to get the hostage out?" he asked.

"You start by flying," Kain said. He changed the wind currents to pick them both up and set them on top of the car. "Try to burn through that," he said.

"Alright, just make sure I don't fall off, this could take a while," Nathan said as he began to melt the metal on the car.

"Lucy," Kain spoke into a head set in the mask. "I need you to make the drivers nervous. Not too scared, we don't want them doing anything stupid. Just enough to make them think about surrendering,"

"You got it," Lucy said as she focused on the drivers. She started to make them feel nervous, but before she could fully effect both of them, one of thieves fired out of the window.

Now Lucy was scared, but before the bullets could reach her, Gene pushed her down in the seat and took the bullets for her, drops of his grey flesh hit the floor of the car.

"Gene! Are you alright!" James asked.

"Don't worry, I barely felt it," Gene said grinning to re-assure her.

The man would have continued to shoot if Kain hadn't used his powers to take the gun away. "Is everyone alright?"

"Yeah, we're fine, thanks to Gene," James said. "How are things going on your end?"

"Not so good. This metal is thick and Nathan's having a hard time burning through it," Kain replied.

"Can't he just turn up the heat a little?" Lucy asked.

"If I make it to hot, I could burn through to quickly and hurt the hostage. I got to take this slowly," Nathan said.

"Well you might need a new plan," James said.

"Why?" Kain asked. He received his answer when one of the officers shot at him. "Dang, they must think we're trying to take it over. Gene, you think you can slow them down?"

"I'm on it," Gene replied. He jumped out of the car and shifted his body to form a puddle. When the police car drove over him, he formed several spikes and stabbed the tires. The car swerved and crashed but no one was hurt. Gene hopped on the roof of another police car until it got close enough for him to stretch his body and climb back into James' car.

"Not bad Gene. Now take the wheel and I'll get rid of the other one," James said changing back into a he.

As Gene took the wheel James jumped out and braced himself for the oncoming car. It collided with him, but he barely moved. It took some effort, but he was able flip the car over without injuring the officers. Then he changed to his female form and ran to catch up with the others.

"Kain, I'm going to slow down so James can catch up," Gene said through the headset. "Are you guys going to be okay on your own?"

"We'll be fine, Nathan's almost done," Kain said.

"Alright, we'll catch up as soon as we can," Gene said.

"Just a little more…there!" Nathan said standing up.

"Are you alright down there?" Kain asked.

"I'm fine," replied the hostage. He was an older man in his mid fifties. And he looked tired.

_There's not a lot of air in there, it's a good thing we came, otherwise he could have suffocated. _"Listen. I'm going to lift you out. Just stay calm," Kain said.

He moved the wind down the hole Nathan made and slowly lifted the man out. The man was a bit surprised at first, since he had no idea what was making him float, but he didn't move, which made it easier.

"Okay, Gene are you there?" Kain asked.

"Yeah, we just picked up James and we're on our way back," he replied.

"When you get here I want you tear up the engine, can you do that," Kain asked.

"Yes, it shouldn't be too hard," Gene said.

"Alright then," Kain said. "Let's go," he lifted all three of them up into the air and set the hostage on the ground, then he and Nathan went to go finish stopping the thieves.

James and the others pulled up alongside the car as Kain and Nathan climbed inside. Kain nodded to Gene, who jumped out the window and slipped down into the engine.

Gene didn't know a lot about cars, but, he did know that could stop the engine using his body. _I am going to regret this._ He thought as he slid down into the engine. He felt himself getting tossed around and around. He changed his whole body into a spiky ball and extended them outwards piercing everything he could.

The car began to swerve out of control and crashed. The two thieves tried to get away, but they were picked by Kain and his wind.

"Nice job," Nathan said.

"Hey, where's Gene at?" Lucy asked.

"I'm over here," Gene said. He seeped out of the engine and on to the ground.

"Are you alright Gene?" Kain asked.

"Just a little dizzy," he replied as he stood up.

"Come on the cops will be here to take care of these guys," Kain said.

"But, we don't anything to restrain them with," James said.

"I'll keep them in the air until the cops come," Kain said. "I'll see you guys at the institute,"

Jai had watched the whole event take place. She had stolen her aunt's car to go for a joy ride, but she hadn't expected it to be this entertaining. She took out her cell phone and called her aunt.

"Where have you been! You know I need help finding new mutants to join us!" Mystique yelled.

"Relax, I think I found some potential members," Jai said.

"Really? Where, how many, who are they?" Mystique asked.

"You'll find out if watch the news, I'll be back in a few hours," Jai said.

"Wait!" Mystique was cut off when Jai hung up her phone.

Not long after Nathan and the others reached the institute, Kain came in and sat down. Nathan started flipping through channels, Gene, still dizzy from the engine, laid down on the couch and fell asleep, and James, Kain, and Lucy picked up the game where they left off with James filling in for Gene.

Soon after that the rest of the team came in. they looked tired and irritable. Long scowled at the Kain and the others.

"We go out and have to stop a bunch of bank robbers and you guys sit around and do nothing all day!" she yelled

"Well, stopping the robbers would have been a lot easier, if _someone _hadn't tried to set the bank on fire," Kenneth muttered.

"What did ye say!" Blaise yelled furious.

"Hey, keep it down. Gene's trying to sleep," Lucy said calming the teens down.

"Is he sick?" Storm asked.

"Uh, yeah he's sick. He started feeling nauseous, so we told him to lie down," Nathan said.

"Well I hope he feels better," Storm said. "Come on everyone, let's go get cleaned up,"

As they walked away Kenneth couldn't help but ask. "Is this all guys did in your downtime?"

"Basically," Nathan said.

Kenneth shrugged and walked off. James looked at him and said. "How come you didn't tell all about our little 'adventure' I figured you'd be dieing to tell them,"

"What, do I need to gloat? Can't I do something nice and let it go anonymously?" Nathan asked.

"You're waiting until it comes on the news aren't you?" Kain asked.

"Yep," Nathan said as he continued to flip through the channels.

AN: First of all thanks to Mew Phong for letting me write this. Second of all, thanks to my sister who proof read this. And third of all, if I got your character wrong, I apologize. I was especially concerned about Nathan, since I know very little about him. Basically just how he was described in Cloudy-TheNightMare Queen's story, which is a good story and gives great insight into Blaise's personality. So if I got him wrong I apologize. Anyway I hope you enjoyed this story and please review.


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